#M1911

Last year I had the opportunity to visit the John M. Browning Museum in Ogden, Utah and I was thrilled to see Browning’s hammerless 1911 prototype on display. Very little has been written about the development of this particular pistol. The pistol is briefly mentioned in John Browning and Curt Gentry’s 1964 biography of John M. Browning, explaining that during the US Army’s long process to select a new service pistol John M. Browning decided to provide two versions of his .45 ACP pistol – one with an exposed hammer and the other with a shrouded hammer similar to that seen on his Colt 1903 and 1908 Pocket Hammerless commercial pistols.

Remington amidst rumblings of uncertainty continues to roll out more 1911 models with strong influences from their absorbed Para Ordnance brand. The next on the docket: an Ultra Light Executive, Enhanced Double Stack and Recon Commander Double Stack.

The CMP Board of Directors has discussed at length how the sales of 1911s would be handled, if the CMP were to ever receive them from the United States Army.

The United States House of Representatives has just passed their version of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and included within it is a provision that will mandate the release of all M1911 handguns currently in US Army inventory to the Civilian Marksmanship Program, for distribution to eligible US civilians. The new bill would overwrite the 2016 NDAA, which allowed for the release of 10,000 of the pistols, but did not mandate it. The text of Section 1064 of the 2018 NDAA is as follows:

Some guns just seem to attract the most ravenous fanboys. These fanatics collaborate and overtime form cult-like cells within the community of firearm enthusiasts. In this video we explore five firearms that have developed a fan base akin to cults, often bordering on outright religious behavior.

1969 was a year of great optimism and achievement for the United States. NASA’s space program took humans to the Moon in July of that year, while the Mariner 6 and 7 probes gave humanity its first close look at the planet Mars. The Boeing 747 “Jumbo Jet” took to the skies for the first time in 1969, and that year also marks the sending of the first ARPANET data packet, heralding the very beginning of the Internet age. In 1969, it seemed as though there was nothing that America could not accomplish, if it wanted to.

On November 25th, 2015, President Barack Obama has signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act of 2016, included in which is a provision for the Civilian Marksmanship to sell 1911 handguns to the United States shooting public. The bill includes Section 1087, which allows the transfer of handguns from the United States Army to the Civilian Marksmanship program, and the subsequent distribution of those handguns to members of CMP-affiliated clubs.

The Civilian Marksmanship Program has been providing arms to civilian match shooters and riflemen for over 110 years, but one weapon left off the list of civilian-legal surplus firearms the CMP is allowed to sell to civilian shooters is the venerable 1911 handgun. However, that may soon change. For the past couple of years, variations of the National Defense Authorization Act have been proposed that would change the law establishing the CMP to allow them to sell 1911 handguns to the American public, but so far none of these versions have passed and become law. The most recent version of the NDAA provides for the sale of 1911 handguns (albeit in a different manner than the rifles, i.e. through an FFL) through the organization, and is poised to be signed in the next week. Hognose of WeaponsMan reports:

Are you someone who appreciates the classic lines of the 1911 platform, but wants a cartridge with a little more punch than a .45 ACP, or even a .38 Super? A recent photo by Oleg Volk has the answer:

Part of my trip to the UK took my to Le Havre, France. Being so close, I had to go to Normandy and see Omaha Beach. I went to the Normandy American Cemetary. The visitor center has a wonderful exhibit with a few firearms inside.